


A Merhog Tale Book 2

by cellie6135



Series: A Merhog's Tale [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: merhog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-07-06 08:57:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15882792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cellie6135/pseuds/cellie6135
Summary: After the incident with Dr. Robotnik, things in Sonic's life are being to finally settle. Or so he thinks. When a cry for help comes from the sea, will he have the courage or the heart to answer it?...





	1. A Creep In The Deep

Sonic Maurice laughed as he raced with Knuckles, Amy, Sally and Tails on their new water skiers that Tails had just invented.

It had been a month since they had seen or heard from Maria Robotnik but they heard rumours that she was still snooping around, causing them all to be on edge. She had even tried to tell people that Sonic was a sae fae, but without any evidence and she believing that he had erased any sea fae DNA from his system, she lost her reputation and her job.

Sonic kinda felt bad for her but he was relieved that no one believed her.

It wasn't until that morning that Sonic decided he had had enough of all the tension and fear and that they all needed to blow off steam and have some fun on the waves. His friends were worried that someone would see him but he just brushed it off. As they tore through the surface Sonic swam effortlessly down below, enjoying the water around him.

He really needed this.

He loved the colourful reefs all around him as well as the beautiful fish swimming laughed as he thought about when he was younger and he when he was terrified of deep water and yet now, here he was swimming in the ocean like he had been doing it all his life. But he was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a terrifying scream of fear above him.

He looked up and saw that his friends had stopped the boats and saw a large, hungry bull shark circling them!

He quickly went up to save them from the hungry beast. As soon as the shark saw him it charged at him with it's giant jaws opened wide for it's next easy meal. Sonic smirked as he calmly waited until the very last second before moving out the way and laughed as the shark swam right into the sandy ocean floor.

He quickly swam up to the surface to make sure his friends were alright.

He smiled when he saw that although they were badly shaken up the were unharmed. Knuckles was angrily looking around for the bloodthirsty ocean devil whereas Amy and Tails were noticeably shaking in fear. Sally was the worst of them. Her last experience with sharks during the film contest had left her traumatised.

He was about to tell them to head back to shore when he felt an excruciating pain in his tail.

As he screamed in complete agony he looked down and saw the shark biting just below his waist with it's razor teeth! His friends starting screaming in fear as the deadly bull shark started violently ragging him around and the water around them turned a sickening crimson red from is blood. Knuckles looked ready to jump in to save his blue friend, but he wasn't stupid.

He knew that if he jumped into the firing line then he'd be shark dinner too.

He and the others could only watch in horror as Sonic cried out in pain. The monster shark suddenly threw the bleeding blue hedgehog up into the air before jumping up at him with it's mouth wide open again, knocking the Mobians off their little boats. Seconds before Sonic landed in the hungry shark's jaws, however, they were all suddenly surrounded in a strange aqua coloured aura that froze them all in place.

The shark was suddenly thrown into the far distance before it vanished over the horizon.

Before Sonic could see who was responsible he body suddenly felt heavy and icy cold before everything went black...

* * *

The first thing Sonic notice when he returned from the thick fogs of unconsciousness was that he was surrounded in cold. But it was a strange type cold; a kind of warm, comforting kind of cold that eased his nerves slightly. When he finally opened his eyes he saw nothing but a bright, aqua blue glow blinding him.

It hurt his eyes for a bit and he snapped them shut.

When his eyes finally adjusted to the bright light he saw that he was lying on the rocking shore and his friends were standing over him with worried looks on their faces. The aqua aura disappeared and Knuckles helped his blue friend sit up. Sonic looked at his waist and saw there were only a few small white marks where the shark's teeth had pierced the skin.

He looked to see who it was who had saved him and froze when he saw who his hero was.

It was another sea fae like himself. He looked around to be Sonic's age and was a very light grey, almost white, hedgehog with white fur on his chest surrounding his neck with gold eyes and tan skin. He wore white gloves with cyan circles with lines sticking out of the bottom leading to his golden bracelets accented in cyan.

His tail was covered stunning white scales that shined brighter than his fur and glittered in the sun with cyan blue fins.

He had two large spines at the back of his head, while at the front of his forehead there were five distinct spines flared up and back, the two final ones covering up most of his ears; his five front spines had cyan tips. He wore a shiny golden belt with a small ruby red gem in the middle that covered where his fur changed to scales and a gold earring in his left ear.

When he noticed the Mobians staring at him he smiled at them.

"My name's Silver, it's really nice to meet you all." He said. "Especially you Sonic. My mother told me all about you after your mother told her. They were really close."

The group stared at him in shock before Sonic regained his senses

"You knew my mother?" He finally asked as he sat up to properly talk the ivory merhog.

"Everyone knew your mother." He replied. "She was the Queen of Atlatica. But she disappeared years ago and the kingdom was taken over by her younger sister Bernadette, who has ruled selfishly, never caring about anyone but herself. She's putting the ocean in great danger. Aleena has been missing for almost 17 years now. No one knows what happened to her. Not even my Mom."

"Your Mom?"

"She's the head seer in the queen's court. The only one your mother trusted with the secret she had fallen in love with a Mobian and had bore child with him." Silver explained.

"And your Mom told you?" Sonic asked.

"Now that I'm of age by sea fae law, yes." Silver nodded. "Mom wanted to make sure that I would understand how important this secret is."

"So Sonic isn't just a sea fae, but sea fae royalty!" Amy squealed. "This is so cool!"

"No it's not." Sonic growled as he turned his attention to Silver again. "If this all happened years ago, why am I finding out now? Why didn't Emma ever tell me that my Mom was a queen?!"

"Because you've finally mastered your basic sea fae powers." He replied. "Now you're ready to return to Atlantica and defeat Bernadette and take your place as a prince of Atlantica, just as my Mom foretold." He smiled, full of hope.

"That is so deep." Knuckles gushed.

"No!" Sonic growled at them. "I've been trying to live as normal a life as I can and this sea fae business has been getting in the way of that! Now, just when things are starting to get back to normal, I'm being told that I have to travel with a crazy haired hedgehog to some sea fae city to defeat an evil queen and take over this city?! Well forget it!" He shouted.

Suddenly his locket that Emma gave him burst open and no one expected what happened next. Glowing blue tendrils of something came out of the opened locket and formed a cylinder as tall as Knuckles.

"Merillia!" Silver suddenly gasped.

"Merillia?" Sonic asked as he looked down to the sea fae and then back to the cylinder, which form a picture.

In the picture was a beautiful quill-less hedgehog with long dark purple hair, thistle pink fur and stunning green eyes. While the armour covering her body was white, the jewel on the middle of it was cerise. The Mobian looked and saw that instead of legs she had a dark purple tail with lavender fins. She was moving her hands side to side as some kind of blueish glitter floated down from some kind of large shells and into a large basket.

"Queen Aleena!" Silver gasped. "She is alive! This picture proves it!"

"That's my Mother?" Sonic asked in disbelief as he stared at the picture.

"Yes." The ivory merhog nodded. "I've only seen pictures of the queen, thanks to my Mom, but it's her. Your mother must of filled your necklace with merillia, that's what's making the picture."

"What is merillia?" Sonic asked.

"It's what keeps the ocean alive." He explained. "Without it, the coral and ocean creatures will die."

"So controlling merillia is what she is doing right now?" Tails asked, wanting to make sure he understood all this new information on sea fae culture.

"Yes." He nodded. "But the members of the royal family are the only one who can make it and release it into the ocean."

"Is she okay?" Sonic murmured as he continued to stare at the woman.

"With Bernadette ruling, no one is okay." Silver glared. "Sonic, we need you in Atlantica." He pleaded. Sonic reached for the image of his mother, but it suddenly disappeared. He froze for a second as a million thoughts ran through his head all at once.

"All right." He sighed and looked down at Silver. "I'll help you. I'll help defeat Bernadette."

"Thank you." The ivory merhog cheered as he leapt back into the water and swam out towards the open sea.

"And fulfil your destiny." Amy cheered and Sonic glared at her.

"No, when all this stupid sea fae stuff is finally over then I come back to my life on land and no one will mention this royalty stuff ever again. Deal?" He huffed.

"Deal." They all said and Silver smile widened. He was just giddy that Sonic had agreed to come.

"Wish we could go with." Amy sighed.

"Yeah." Knuckles agreed. "This sounds like a blast."

"Good luck." Tails grinned.

"I'll let your uncle know that you're all right." Sally said to her friend as he climbed to the top of the rock. Sonic nodded and took a deep breath.

"You coming or what?" Silver asked as he swam out further. With his trademark smirk, Sonic dove off of the rock edge and into the water, coming up next to the ivory merhog as he transformed.

"Have fun!" Tails shouted.

"Bring back some souvenirs!" Amy added.

"Okay." Sonic called back, and tuned, following Silver under the rolling waves and down to a whole new place he had never been to in his life...

* * *

After roughly an hour of swimming through the dark waters of the ocean, Silver and Sonic passed by a sunken ship before they reached the coral reef. Sonic came to a stop and stared in awe at the coral reef.

"It is beautiful." Silver agreed, then a glowing blue strand of familiar substance floated by. "Recognise this?"

"That's what came out of my locket." He answered. "Merillia?"

"Yep." Silver nodded with a smile before his face became saddened. "Like I said, only the royal family can create it, and it's their greatest joy. Maybe you'll do it yourself someday."

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked.

"My Mom showed me pictures of what the reefs around here looked like 17 years ago. Your mother's merillia made it vibrant with colour, Bernadette's merillia isn't strong enough to properly care for her people, much less the entire ocean. Without proper merillia to sustain it, the coral changes colour, like your autumn leaves, becomes bleached and eventually dies all together."

"Oh." Sonic muttered, slightly saddened by this, as they swam passed some coral pieces on the ocean floor.

"But now that you're here, things will go back to the way they were." Silver smiled.

"We can always hope." Sonic sighed, still a little sad. Silver noticed this and smiled at the blue teen.

"I heard your fast on land and in the sea, wanna race?" He asked and Sonic smirked.

Within seconds he dashed through the water, letting Silver eat his bubbles. The ivory sea fae laughed and quickly chased after him. In less than 5 minutes, Sonic suddenly came to a stop and up at an underwater city. As he stared at the city Silver finally caught up to him and laughed at his expression.

"Sonic, welcome to Atlantica."...


	2. Atlantica

"It's huge!" Sonic gasped as the two dropped to lie on a sandbank.

"Of course it is." Silver laughed giggled. "We've lived down here for hundreds of years, as the population grows so does the city."

"You've got me there." He said as he shrugged his shoulders as they slowly moved to the city.

"Come on, we need to get you a disguise."

"A disguise?" He questioned.

"Yeah." Silver smiled as glanced over at the blue furred teen. "All sea fae wear some types of jewellery and/or clothes; if we don't, you'll stick out like a two-headed shark. Bernadette mustn't find out you're here. She would freak. Follow me carefully and make sure to keep out of sight."

"Okay." Sonic sighed as he sped up to keep up with the other sea fae.

As they swam thru the city, Sonic got a closer look at the buildings. It looked like a mix of a modern city and ancient Greece. The buildings architect was ancient Greek style, but they were skyscraper tall in a modern sense. There were homes, stores, restaurants and many other things that simply reminded Sonic of home.

There were even signs that reminded him of the neon sign outside of the juice bar where he and his friends would hang out. As they hid behind a sign, Sonic got a good look at all the sea fae living there and saw that they all came many in different species, colours and sizes.

"That's where we'll get you a disguise." Silver said as they looked across the street to some kind of clothes store.

"I still can't believe this is all real." He muttered as the two started off again, Silver making sure his body blocked Sonic from the view of others. As they reached the end of a group of potted plants, Sonic ducked back when he heared a girl talking on her shell phone.

"There were five colours, I couldn't decide which one to get, so I bought them all." She giggled and Sonic rolled his eyes. This place really is like home, giggling girls and all. Once the coast was clear, Sonic used his speed and quickly swam across the street. Safely hidden behind another board Sonic and Silver peaked over to see some female sea faes exit a shop.

"I bought this, but does it clash with my scales?" One said, holding up her recent purchase.

"Kind of, can I borrow it?" Her friend asked.

"Sure." She smiled and as the two moved down the busy, under water street, Sonic got a good look at the store they were going to: Blooming Tails.

Suddenly a loud horn blasted though the town.

"The Queen Festival!" Someone shouted.

"It's time for the Queen Festival." Another called out.

"What's going on?" Sonic asked Silver as everyone around them swam around in a panicked frenzy.

"We need to get you inside." Silver replied with a worried look.

Moving quickly, the two swam into the Blooming Tails store and out of sight. Peeking out of one of the windows, the two merhogs watched as a procession entered the town. A bunch of manta sharks were guarding a reclining chariot that was being pulled by large purple jellyfish. In the chariot was a female sea fae.

It was Queen Bernadette.

She had purple/blue fur with a peach muzzle, arms and chest. She also had a small tuff of sunshine blonde hair on her head and bright blue eyes. Her tail had amethyst scales and midnight black fins. She wore a light lavender dress, gold jewellery and a gold crown on top of her head. Floating next to her was another hedgehog in black armour.

He had black fur with crimson red stripes on his quills, around the edges of his eyes and on his arms.

He had glowing red eyes, a patch of white fur on his chest and his muzzle was tanned. He had six quills on his head, four of which curve upwards and two that curve downwards as well as two spines on his back. Along with his armour he wore white gloves with black cuffs and red tongues. On each of his wrists and at the end on his tail he wore a single gold ring.

His tail was black and he had blood red fins on the end.

His tail reminded Sonic of a shark and he also moved side to side similar to that of a shark.

"That guy's Shadow, he's the queen's captain of the guard and the royal family's personal bodyguard, he's always glued to the Queen's side when she leaves the castle." Silver explained when he saw Sonic looking at the ebony merhog. The queen then raised herself off of the cushions and was greeting the gathered people.

"My people, do you adore me?" She called out and Sonic shivered. There was something about her voice that scared him; it was a soft sweet tone but it had something cold and sinister dripping in it. To Sonic's surprise, everyone cheered. What's with that?

"I said, do you adore me?" Bernadette said even louder and the cheering increased in volume. The queen looked pleased and she held up merillia that was swirling in a ball. "Do you love me enough do deserve you merillia?" She asked and the cheering increased ten times over. Bernadette smiled as she started to soak in all the attention.

Suddenly she frowned.

"You!" She snapped, pointing at someone in the crowd.

"Me?" A small voice squeaked.

"Swim forward." She commanded and a blond, brown eyed young cat sea fae, with a light pink coloured tail swam out of the group. Sonic looked at Silver and saw the fear in his eyes. But before Sonic could asked his new friend what was wrong, the girl started talking again.

"I'm sorry my queen." She was saying as she trembled in fear. "I was just looking at some new jewellery my father sent me from his travels."

"You dare to ignore me?" Bernadette questioned, her voice rising in anger.

"No, no!" The girl's voice pitched higher. Bernadette's hands began to glow with a menacing dark purple glow. The young girl's eyes widened and she turned and tried to swim away.

"No, please!" She pleaded as tears floated from her eyes. Bernadette started to swirl her hand around and a purple flash covered the area, forcing everyone to look away. When eyes were opened again, the girl being sucked into a whirlpool of some kind of black magic and the whirlpool started moving away as the girl's screams echoed out to the crowd.

"What did she do?" Sonic asked in a strangled voice of fear.

"That's how Bernadette controls all sea fae." Silver answered in a sad voice. "Her magic whirlpools are incredibly strong, no one can escape them; if you disobey or insult her in anyway she sucks you into one and they take you to her dungeons below the castle." He explained and Sonic watched the whirlpool disappear towards the castle in the distance.

"Now, who wants their merillia?" Bernadette smiled as she held up the glowing ball of blue magic again. All the sea fae instantly started cheering again, as if nothing bad had happened. As the cheering increased as the merillia was released, Sonic thought over what Silver had said. Bernadette ruled by fear and intimidation.

Her merillia was not strong enough to care for the ocean, much less her subjects.

"Until next time, my faithful subjects." She smiled as she leaned back in her chariot again. Once they were sure she was gone, the crowd dispersed and returned to doing what they were doing before.

"So my destiny is to defeat Bernadette, right?" Sonic asked as he and Silver turned away from the window.

"Right." He smiled, glad Sonic was being more helpful about all this.

"How am I supposed to defeat that?" He practically yelled.

"I... don't know." He replied with a nervously smile. "That's why we are going to see my Mom. I promise she will know what to do. Disguise first though." He reminded. Sonic wanted to protest but gave up and nodded his head as he took deep breaths, calming himself down.

"What did you think of Bernadette's new chariot?" A new voice outside of the shop said. Sonic panic as he sucked in his breath and dove behind a long rack of clothes and tail accessories.

"So 50 seasons ago." Another voice replied with a laugh. "It went out of style when Grandma was a kid. And her clothes make the queen look like she's ready for her burial."

"You can say that again." The first voice replied and Sonic watched as two merteens swam threw the door, one nodding his head. The first one was a green-furred hedgehog, whose quills were a lot more shaggier than Sonic's. He wore an orange fanny-pack and he had brown eyes, his left ear is pierced with two small gold hoop earrings in a 'punk' style.

His tail was a reddish brown colour with dark orange fins.

The other on was also a hedgehog with fuschia pink fur, light pink hair in a style of curly spikes and a full fringes, peach skin and blue eyes. For attire, she wore a dark red bikini top. The section were the fur turned to scales was covered by a gold belt that formed a pointed shape at the front with a green orb in the centre of the belt.

Her tail was a raspberry red colour with purple fins.

"I know." The girl said. "Why do old people like to be so old fashioned these days. No offence to Silver's mom. She actually changes with the times."

"I guess." The boy shrugged with a bored expression.

"Glad to know you two feel that way." Silver said as they swam further into the building.

"Silver!" The girl squealed as she turned around and hugged her friend. "It's so good to see you."

"Glad to see you to Sonia." Silver said to the one hugging him, and looked to the one who was bouncing on his fins. "Hi Manic."

"Sup' Silv?" He grinned.

"It's great to see you two again." He grinned, and the purple dolphin who used to follow Sonic around shot threw one of the windows and straight to Silver, who got a tongue facial, free of charge. "It's good to see you too Pearl. Sonia, Manic, I have someone I want you to-"

"Silver, come check our new toy out." Manic interrupted.

"You guys got a new toy?" He asked.

"Yeah, we did." Sonia grinned and dragged Silver over to a fish, who was acting like a DJ of some sort at a musical device. "A DeepSea3 player. Pre-programmed with over 1,000 songs. Listen to this one. Track 264." She smiled and the fishy DJ set the track and started the song, playing one Sonic often heard at the juice bar, only slightly different.

_**I'm swimming on sunshine  
** _ _**Whoa-oh.  
** _ _**I'm swimming on sunshine  
** _ _**Whoa-oh.  
** _ _**I'm swimming on sunshine  
** _ __**Whoa-oh.**

"Let's dance!" Sonia said as she giggled as she started dancing around her friend.

"One second-!" Silver cried as he tried to get out, but got caught up with the other hedgehog who was swimming in a circle with his sister. Sonic looked on from his hiding place and felt himself smile. He could remember the times when his friends would randomly make him dance with them as well.

_**And don't it feel good.  
** _ _**Hey! Alright now.  
** _ _**And don't it feel good.  
** _ __**Hey! Alright now. Yeah.**

"Isn't this great?" Manic cheered over the music.

"It's wonderful." Silver gasped out.

"No kidding!" Sonia agreed.

"Yeah, but I have someone-"

"Whoa!" Sonia cried as Manic suddenly swung her out of the circle, and under the clothes rack of clothes Sonic was hiding behind. She gasped as she saw the blue hedgehog looking down at her. Sonic paused and tentatively waved his hand.

"Ah!" Sonia yelped and shot out from under the tails, causing the rack to crash down on top of Sonic. The music came to a sudden stop and the two merteens stared at Sonic in shock and fear.

"That's what I was trying to tell you guys earlier." Silver said as he swam to Silver's side. "Sonia, Manic, I brought a visitor. My friend Sonic." He smiled and Sonic floated up as he was introduced.

"But who is he?" Sonia asked.

"Listen, I'm only telling you guys because I trust you not to tell anyone, the fate of Atlantica deepens on it!" He exclaimed and they nodded, realising this was very serious. "This is Sonic Maurice, he's half Mobian and Queen Aleena's son. We've also seen proof that Queen Aleena is alive!"

The two teens gasped at this

"Then Sonic can fulfil the prophecy!" Sonia shrieked. "He can finally overthrow Bernadette, then Aleena can rule Atlantica again." She squealed. Pearl swam in front of the three new friends Sonic had made and bowed.

"Pearl's right." She said, seeing the dolphin bow. "You are our rightful prince, and we are at your service." She said as she glanced at Manic and Silver, then bowed with the them.

"No offence." Sonic looked uncomfortably as they looked up. "But, I don't want to be your prince, I just want to get one with my life, but I can only do that with my Mom's help."

"That's why were going to see my Mom." Silver blurted out. "She'll know the tools needed to defeat Bernadette, but before we go, we need something to help Sonic, um, blend in around here."

"Total tail makeover!" Sonia suddenly cheered and a new track started playing; she dragged Sonic into the back room and really started to get into the swing off what she was doing. The boys and the dolphin sat down, Sonia poked her head out.

"Silver, Manic, Pearl, you're the audience." She called out. "You can cheer or just shake your heads on what we think looks good on Sonic, you boys got all that?" The pink hedgehog asked. Before they could reply, she grabbed a dark blue top, one that would obviously show the abdomen.

She then grabbed a black top with silver chains, he didn't really like those clothes but all Sonic could do was sit there and let her dress him. After some discussion, Sonic was dressed in a black shirt, some wrist gauntlets with studs, along with a neck choker of the same design. It had too many crisscrossing chains in his opinion.

His tail was wrapped with chain like belts. Coming out from behind the curtain, Sonic modelled the look he had. Manic shook his head in disgust, as did Silver and Pearl.

"We need some flash." Manic sighed before pushing Sonic back into the back room.

He tossed top after top over his shoulders as he tried to find something that would suit Sonic. He may not be into fashion like his sister, but he knew what a guy liked. He picked one up and turned around in time to see Pearl poke her head out from under the tops pile; Sonia, Silver and Sonic were beside him giggling.

Sonic came out from behind the curtain again to show the dark blue top that showed abdomen that Manic had first picked, and a green coloured tail cover that had a bracelet of its own at the end.

"No." Sonia flatly said before she went back to tossing tops around, trying to find something better. After a bunch of sorting, and two arguments, Manic held up a neon blue tail cover. Sonia wrinkled her nose and shook her head before holding something up for him to see. He perked up and nodded. About 10 seconds later, Sonic came out from behind the curtain, again.

The orange shirt and baby blue tail cover did not do any good.

"Defiantly not." Silver spoke before Sonic even opened his mouth.

"There has to be something." Manic muttered to himself.

"I've got it." Sonia gasped and whispered her idea to Manic, whose face lit up like a Christmas tree when it was turned on. 2 minutes later, Sonic came out for the last time, grinning.

"I love it."

He wore a shining gold choker with a jade green orb in the middle, two gold bracelets around his wrist and a simple gold belt that covered the area where fur changed to scales and golden band circled around his upper left arm.

"Perfect." Sonia and Manic cheered.

"Best work yet guys." Silver smiled as Sonic looked himself over in a full length mirror. Now they were ready to go and see Silver's mother. Sonia opened the doors, and the group of merteens, plus one dolphin, swam out...


	3. The Prophet

A couple of miles outside of the city, a building with a long tunnel entrance floated with the ocean's current, but always stayed by the Atlantican city. Inside lived a female sea fae. She was a hedgehog with beautiful shining violet eyes, silvery white fur that glittered in the light and her long quills were tied back and fashioned like hair with a sea holly hair pin.

She wore a purple, glittering tube top, a silver belt with a pink gemstone in the middle and a pair of pearl earrings.

Her tail was a light lavender colour with white fins. She was alone in the room as she filed her polished, cat claw-like nails. A throat was cleared and the mermaid looked towards the door to see Shadow.

"Sapphire." He greeted with a cold, stoic voice. "Her royal majesty seeks guidance about the future." He said and the doors swung open and Bernadette waltzed inside and sat down in her usual chair in front of the seer.

"Tell me dear, tell me that I will rule over Atlantica forever." She smiled as Sapphire swam over to her and started styling the queen's quills. The seer rolled her eyes at the queen's obnoxious behaviour.

"Has it really only been one day already?" She smirked. It took all of Bernadette's willpower not to suck her into a whirlpool.

"Just do it!" She snarled and Sapphire sighed before focusing her power.

 ** _"The merillia is weak."_**  She said in a monotone voice as a faint white blue colour surrounded her.  ** _"Without a change you will poison not only Atlantica but all of the Seven Seas."_**

"Yes, yes, I know. I told you I'm working on that." The queen said, a bit annoyed.

_**"You won't have time, Aleena's son has become of age."** _

**"WHAT!"**  Bernadette screamed as she leapt out of her chair. Shadow wisely stayed silent by the door.

_**"Aleena's son is coming for you."** _

"Aleena has no son." She said firmly.

 _ **"There is a son."**_  Sapphire replied.  _ **"A son who can destroy you."**_

"Well," She stammered. "Then I will destroy the son first. Where can I find him?" She snarled as she towered over Sapphire. The magic glow left the seer and the ivory merhog waved a hand in front of her face.

"You need a breath mint." She gagged.

 **"I DEMAND YOU TELL ME WHERE ALEENA'S SON IS!"**  She raged.

"Now Bernadette." She soothed with giggle. "You know that two much predicting is bad for me. I get headaches and all that good stuff."

"Ah!" The queen cried out in frustration. Shadow went to open the door for the enraged queen

"Mark my words,  **I WILL DESTROY ALEENA'S SON!** "...

* * *

Meanwhile, Sonic followed Silver as the group swam to the Seer's Hall. Sonic was a little nervous about meeting her and felt like everyone around them were staring at him as he swam by.

"You'll love my Mom." Silver said when he saw how nervous Sonic was. "She's so understanding of everyone."

"But she can be a little blunt." Manic added.

"She can't be blunter than my friend Knuckles." He replied with a faint laugh. "You would think 'Blunt' is his middle name."

 **"-I WILL DESTROY ALEENA'S SON!"**  A voice was heard shouting from the other side of the door they were swimming to and they could make out one or two shadows through the murky glass coming straight at them and fast.

"Bernadette!" Sonia yelped.

"Come on Sonic." Silver hissed as he grabbed his hand and pulled him behind one of the pillars as the doors opened.

"We just need to find the boy." The queen growled back towards Shadow. "Where-"

"Queen Bernadette!" Manic gushed.

"What are you two doing here?" She snapped.

"Sapphire's having a two for one sale on scale moisturiser." Sonia said. "I just have to get some."

"Well, since you are here, you two will be the first to know of my kingdom wide edict." She smiled and they gulped. "I hereby declare, that any strangers, or anyone suspicious in Atlantica, must be turned into me immediately." She exclaimed.

Shadow rolled his crimson eyes and focused on one of the pillars near the doors. He paused when he thought he saw something blue floating behind one of the nearby pillars.

"Shadow!" Bernadette snapped. "Are you listening to me?"

"Yes your highness." He bowed.

"And anyone who violates this law will be sentenced to a lifetime in my dungeons." She finished. The three sea faes in front of Bernadette, plus Shadow, all looked at each other. This was bad. She had finally flipped.

"Have you two seen anyone strange?" She suddenly asked as she looked at Manic and Sonia.

"No your majesty." Manic replied. "Sonia and I were in the store immediately after the Festival. That is, until Silver told use about his Mom's moisturiser offer and Sonia dragged me up here."

"Did you see anyone?" She asked Sonia.

"I did see someone." She admitted and Sonic felt his heart stop. "Right by the Seaflora Flower Shop, immediately following the Festival."

"What did this stranger look like?"

"Very suspicious." She quickly replied.

"Where did he go?"

"Towards the western coral, out of town."

"Out of my way." She snapped. These teenagers were now of no used to her right now. Everyone flinched when Bernadette slammed the exit door so hard that the hallway shook slight.

"That was close." Sonic muttered as Silver swam from behind the pillar.

"I know." The ivory hedgehog agreed. They all then swam down the hall. Pushing open the doors, Sonic got his first glance Silver's mother.

"Hey honey." She smiled and she and her son hugged.

"This is the seer?" The blue hedgehog asked.

"You'd better believe it." She smiled as she let go of her son and started to examine the young hybrid. "I see you're not from around here."

"Is it that obvious?" He asked with a cringe.

"Afraid so." She chuckled as she sat him down in the chair in front of her.

"That lie won't hold Bernadette off for long." Silver pointed out as he closed the doors.

"Yeah." Manic agreed. "She won't rest until she finds Aleena's son."

 _ **"Aleena's son."**_  Sapphire suddenly said in a monotone voice as the blue glow surrounded her, making Sonic turn in his chair to look at her in shock and slight fear.  _ **"Sonic Maurice, you are destined to overthrow Bernadette, but the tools you need are spread far and wide; without them, you will not succeed: The Celestial Comb, the seven Chaos Emeralds and Bernadette's own protective necklace."**_

"So, if I gather all of these things and defeat Bernadette, will I be able to get on with my life again?" Sonic asked hopefully.

 _ **"You will get what you seek."**_  She said. Sonic felt his heart leap. Then it suddenly accrued to him. This was almost too good to be true.

"Wait." Sonic said firmly. "How do we know this is for real and not something you're making it up?" He asked as he waited for an answer, only for the bright, blue glow to vanished.

"You don't." She simply said. Sonic growled in annoyance and turned to leave.  _ **"Sonic."**  _She suddenly said and the blue teen turned back at the door to see Sapphire glowing again.  _ **"Tell Knuckles he will be bumped up to the Masters Surf Team before the next meet."**_

"Okay." He said, a bit weirded out, and left with the others. The glow around Sapphire faded and she giggled.

"I have no idea what that means."...

* * *

As the group swam away from the Hall, Sonic thought about what he needed to get. First, the Celestial Comb, then the Chaos Emeralds and finally, Bernadette's own protective necklace. He knew the last one was going to be the hardest to get, but he wanted to start small anyway; he needed to find the Celestial Comb.

"Silver, can I ask you something." He asked and the ivory hedgehog nodded. "What's the Celestial Comb and the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Okay." Silver nodded and they swam down to a bunch of rocks they could hide behind on the ocean floor to talk. "First, it is said that the person who owns the the Celestial Comb is the true heir to the throne of Atlantica. The Chaos Emeralds are seven gems that each hold incredible power, they say that if you gather all seven together a miracle will happen."

"Where are they?"

"No one knows." Manic said flatly.

"What?" Sonic asked, just as flat.

"Well, the Celestial Comb and the Chaos Emeralds disappeared around the same time Queen Aleena had." Silver quickly intervened. "It has been assumed that she hid them, but no one has a clue where they are, not even my Mom knows." He explained and they slumped in defeat. "But before she left, the queen confided with my Mom on many topics she refused to tell others about."

"And?" Manic asked.

"Queen Aleena said the comb was 'Where sea fae may see, but never touch'."

"Big help." The green hedgehog groaned as he rolled his eyes.

"What else could go wrong." Sonia sighed in agreement.

"You could get caught." A familiar voice said and they all jumped out of their skin with a frightened cry.

"You arrogant-! Quit sneaking up to places where you don't belong!" Manic snarled when he saw Shadow floating over them with a menacing glare as Sonia and Sonic held him back.

"But it's so much fun to watch you freak out, you little green algae ." He smirked, seeing Manic go red with anger. Sonic gulped nervously as the dark knight turned his crimson eyes to him. He knew that this was Bernadette's captain of the guard, doesn't that make them rivals?

"Why you little!" Manic growled as he finally broke from Sonia's hold and lunged at the dark figure in front of him. Shadow just rolled his eyes and teleported away, causing the green merhog to slam into a large boulder. The three teens cringed when they heard the painful thud and Sonic wondered where the knight went.

He suddenly let out a small scream when the ebony hedgehog appeared right in front of him.

"Faker." He huffed with a stoic expression.

"What?" Sonic glared.

"You're a Faker; I thought you were destined to save this kingdom and yet you scared of a little Chaos Control." He mocked with a cruel smirk. Manic and Sonic looked ready to pounce on the knight but Sonia and Silver held her brother and the prince back.

"What do you want Shadow? What are you gonna do?" Silver glared.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to arrest us and drag us to the queen?" Sonia asked, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

"No, I won't." He calmly said and they looked at him in total shock. "While I believe that Faker here will probably screw things up, I have hope that with the Celestial Comb and the Chaos Emeralds you can defeat Bernadette. I may be her captain and body guard, but if something isn't done she will poison the ocean and all that inhabit it." He explained.

"Thanks Shads." Sonic grinned and Shadow's eye twitched at the nickname.

"Don't call me that." He growled and the blue hedgehog shrugged.

"Okay, now can we get back to the matter at hand?" Sonia begged. "Now back to the first item. It's 'Where sea fae can see, but not touch'."

"That doesn't give us much to go on." Manic sighed.

"Wait." Sonic suddenly said as a thought popped into his head. "I have an idea, but I need to check something first." He said before he lifted his wrist and pressed the on button on his video watch. "Yes! I have bars!" He cheered and the others shared looks of confusion...

* * *

Back on the surface, Tails was working on his new invention with Sally and Amy was fixing her make up. Knuckles was actually studying, something that worried the other three Mobians. A very familiar ding came from the computer, snapping them out of their own thoughts.

"Sonic's calling!" Amy yelled as she bolted towards the computer. "Put him on screen."

"Keep your dress on Amy, we're coming." Tails sighed as he pushed the pink hedgehog away from his laptop. With a few clicks and taps on the keyboard, Sonic's face appeared on the screen.

"Sonic, are you okay?" Sally said as immense relief filled her.

"I'm fine," He smiled. "I'm in Atlantica and I've made some new friend. I have something I need you-"

"Are those Mobians?" Sonia suddenly interrupted as her face, along with Manic's, appeared on the screen. All the Mobian teens' jaws drop. They didn't expect to see more sea fae around their blue friend and Silver.

"Do they have 'toes'?" The green hedgehog asked, earning weird looks from everyone, except Knuckles.

"Three on each foot." The red echidna grinned as he put his paw foot up on the desk. "Check 'em out."

"Are those real sea fae?" Sally asked, still slightly sceptical.

"Yep." Sonic nodded. "Sally, Knuckles, Amy and Tails meet Sonia, Manic and Shadow."

"Sup?" Manic said.

"I like your dress." Sonia said with a giggled. "Matches your fur."

"Uh, thanks." Amy shrugged, she wasn't really sure how to respond to that. It wasn't everyday a merhog compliments your clothing choices.

"She runs a fashion store." Sonic grinned; it wasn't everyday Amy Rose was left speechless. "Anyway, this is why I called. I need you guy to run a search on a 'Celestial Comb'."

"That I can do." Tails said with a smile as he pulled up a search engine on his laptop and typed in 'Celestial Comb', but frowned in confusion. "Nothing comes up."

"See, it doesn't exist." Manic groaned.

"We don't know that for sure." Sonic said, not one for just throwing in the towel without a good fight. "What did you say about it Silver? It's where 'sea fae could see but never touch'."

"Right." The ivory hedgehog nodded.

"Where could that be?" Shadow asked.

"We can't touch things on dry land." Manic offered.

"But we can't see them there very well either." Sonia added.

"So it would have to be underwater." Sally concluded. "But in a place you couldn't reach."

"But where could that be?" Shadow frowned.

"Tails, buddy, can you look up and see if there are any underwater caves off the coast? One's with big air pockets in them?" He asked.

"On it." The yellow kitsune smiled and quickly typed in the search engine again. "Yes. There is. Big Yafos Cave. About 40 miles southwest form the coast of Malibu."

"Great!" The blue teen cheered.

"I know where that is." Silver grinned.

"Then let's go." Sonia said as his tail twitched with excitement.

"One sec." Sonic said and turned to the small screen on his wrists. "Knux, great news. Coach is going to bump you up to the Masters Surf Team before the next meet." He grinned.

"Wait." The echidna said as she gave him a sceptical look. "How do you know that?"

"I have my sources." He smirked. He loved to tease Knuckles. "Talk to you later. Bye!"

"Have fun on your wild goose chase." Shadow glared. "I have to report in to Bernadette. If I stay any longer I could be thrown into her dungeons."

"See you later Shads." Sonic laughed as the ebony hedgehog growled, but he didn't say anything else and teleported away.

"Jerk." Manic muttered, only to get elbowed by his sister.

"True." Sonic agreed and only just avoid a swat from the girl.

"Well let's get going." Silver said, ready for Bernadette to fall from power...


	4. The First Item

Back at the palace, a very angry Queen Bernadette was swimming down a secluded tunnel deep under the castle, a silent as always Shadow swimming close by. He knew he had to keep the queen distracted as much as possible until Sonic and his friends returned with all the tools to defeat her.

"You are sure Shadow?" The queen asked, not wanting to be tricked by her best guard. "You are sure that no one near or in Seaflora Flower Shop saw anyone strange swimming around nearby?"

"No one your majesty." He replied with little to no emotion.

"Fine." She snapped. "Then we'll just have to get our answers somewhere else." She smirked slightly and Shadow glared.

At the end of the tunnel, a metal grate, that resembled thick, sharp coral, slid out of the way into a dimly lit room. Inside was a sea fae with light purple fur, flowing dark purple hair and a tanned muzzle. She wore a long white dress that just barely covered her long, beautiful tail. Her hands were moving side to side as more blue strands of merillia floated down into a basket as they were collected.

"Hello Bernadette." The female merhog spoke with a cold voice, not looking up from her work. She knew the only person whoever came into this room was Bernadette. "It's nice to see you again, dear sister." She added casually.

"Half-sister." The other hedgehog replied nastily, glaring at Aleena, as she swam in front of the imprisoned queen. "I saw Sapphire today, lovely lady; and I have great news. Guess what? I'm an aunt."

"Really?" Aleena glanced up. "And who's the long lost sibling that is the lucky parent?"

"Ooh, nice try Aleena." Bernadette sneered. "But the baby is yours; only he's not a baby now, is he? You found a way to hide him from me, a long time ago; but now he's all grown up and here in Atlantica." She smiled before whipping around to face her sister with a flaring glare. "Where can I find him?" She snarled.

She was hoping to find a way to egg her sister into talking, but it didn't seem to be working.

"How would I know?" Aleena replied, still not looking up from her work. "I've been locked up in this cage for nearly 17 years, so even if I did have a son, I know nothing about him." She hissed.

"That's true." Bernadette agreed with a very cruel smirk. "But you could still tell me which lucky sea fae the father is." She smiled as Aleena remained silent, but Bernadette saw through it. "Unless… no. It couldn't be. You wouldn't have. Is the father not a sea fae at all? Not that Mobian you were always swooning over?" She coldly laughed.

Aleena's control over the merillia failed for a second, and Bernadette knew she had hit the nail on the head.

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about." Aleena glared, her voice ever so slightly cracked, and focused on the merillia even more, hoping to distract Bernadette.

"A half Mobian, half sea fae?" The younger female snorted in cold, cruel laughter. "You had better end the poor boy's suffering now and just tell me where he is, then I might show him some mercy." She snickered but she still got now reply. Silence is golden, but apparently, no one had told Bernadette that.

"Fine then, but I will find him. And for every hour you don't tell me what I want to know, I will imprison 10 innocent sea fae." She smirked as she swam away from her sister. Shadow glared at the evil queen's back as they swam away.

"Oh! And the merillia you're spinning is still weak and terrible. You're killing everyone and poisoning the ocean." She mocked.

"No Bernadette." Aleena glared as she swam forward as the door closed. "You are. My merillia reflects my emotions. It will only improve when you set me free." She pleaded.

"Never!" Bernadette shouted over her shoulder as she swam away and out of sight. A sigh escaped Aleena's lips as she returned to her spot and began spinning the merillia once again. Her son was in Atlantica. Her precious baby had finally returned to her yet she felt more away from him than ever.

'Stay safe.'...

* * *

Near the Yafos Caves, a certain group of sea fae teens and a purple dolphin were swimming. As they approached their destination they saw that almost all the coral and ocean plant life was slowly rotting and dying around them.

"Just look at the coral." Sonia moaned. "Soon all of the ocean will be like this if Bernadette isn't stopped."

"I don't think the coral's our only problem." Silver said as he looked on ahead.

"He's right." Manic agreed and pointed ahead of them. "Aren't those the Yafos Caves?"

"Jellyfish!" Sonic gasped. The group stopped upon seeing four huge orange jellyfish in front of the caves they needed to get into and they all quickly swam behind a large rock. "They're huge!"

"One of the largest in the entire ocean." Silver said.

"Are giant jellyfish friendly by any chance?" Sonic asked as he peeked around the corner.

"The very opposite." Sonia said as he shook his head. "They're very territorial and their stings are deadly."

"How are we going to get into the caves and get the comb?" The blue hedgehog asked.

"We can't." Silver gestured to himself, Manic and Sonia. "But you can."

"He's right." Sonia nodded his head. "It we distract the jellyfish, you can get inside and get the comb. Pearl will help you."

"I don't like this idea." He said as he glanced back to the caves and then to his friends. "But I don't see another option. Let's do it."

As Sonic waited behind the rock with Pearl he watched his new friends swim closer to the cave.

"Hey jellies," Manic called in a singsong tone of voice. "Mind if we come in?" He laughed. Immediately, all the jellyfish swam towards them. You could see the deadly electricity coursing down their tentacles. Everyone gulped as the jellyfish got closer and closer.

"Now!" Silver shouted and they turned tail and speed off, the jellyfish following closely.

Once the jellyfish were a good distance away, Sonic and Pearl quickly swam to the entrance of the cave. After a brief glance back at his friends, Sonic went inside, following Pearl's encouraging whistles and clicks. The cave had lots of dark stones that glowed with a familiar look. It reminded Sonic of his cave back on Pistris Island. Sonic and Pearl surfaced and looked around. 

It was a huge air pocket and the stones that were under the water were the same as the ones above the water.

A glint caught Sonic's eye, high up in the rocks. He looked closer and saw a small silver comb embedded in the crystal like stones at the top of the air pocket, high about the water.

"Where sea fae could see, but never touch." He repeated, then noticed the formation of the rocks. Someone with legs could scale them easily...

* * *

"SWIM!" Manic yelled. The jellyfish were defiantly to close for comfort as the group dodged each other and the jellyfish between the tall, skyscraper like rocks surrounding them like a maze.

"Guys, over here!" Sonia called and they all swam into a group and huddled together. "On three. One."

The jellyfish closed in.

"Two."

Nervous looks were exchanged.

"THREE!"

They all suddenly shot upward and the jellyfish became tangled in their own tentacles, shocking each other instead of their intended targets. They all breathed in relief...

* * *

Needless to say, inside the cave it was a lot quieter, save the occasional whistles and clicks from Pearl. Sonic was climbing up and was now closer to the piece of metal that was the Celestial Comb. Upon reaching a level spot, Sonic reached up and grabbed the old comb by the top.  However, a few tugs later, it became obvious that the comb wasn't going anywhere.

"It's buried too deep Pearl." He called down to the dolphin. "I can't get it." He added as he glared at the comb.  
  
He then noticed the slightly large crack embedded in the rock the silver comb was stuck in. He frowned in confusion as he started to examind the comb, the rocks and the cracks. It travelled down and ended in a rock right next to his foot. He slowly placed his foot on the rock. A glow which Sonic recognised it as merillia spreading through the crack and up to the comb.

He almost laughed when he finally realised what his mother had done.  
  
Not only does the person have to be able to survive this deep under water to reach the cave, they also need legs like a Mobian and they had to be connected to merillia and only he fitted that description. Glancing around, Sonic saw two more cracks that led up into the ancient comb. After placing his foot on one, he reached his hand for the last one and just barely reached it.  
  
As the glow of merillia reached the comb, it slid out like a well-oiled key in a lock.

"Yes!" He cheered as the light weight of the Celestial Comb settled in his hand. A low rumble caught his attention. Glancing around, Sonic saw the cave start to collapse.

"Look like there's one more test." He said grimly as he secured placed the comb in his quills. Taking a deep breath, Sonic leapt off the rocks, his legs changing back into his tail as he splashed into the water below. Under the water, he spotted Pearl looking around in a panic.

"Pearl!" He called as he swam up.

Looking around, they spotted the exit. Swimming as fast of they could, they dodged the falling rocks, which Sonic found was a lot like dodging dodgeballs at gym back at school. Shooting out of the exit, Sonic stopped when he heard whimpering. Turning around, he saw Pearl was trapped in the cave, the rocks blocking the exit. Swimming back as fast as he could, Sonic reached through the gap and pulled the purple dolphin out just in time.  
  
One second later, Pearl would have been crushed by the falling rocks..

* * *

"Sonic!" Sonia shouted when they heard rumbling coming from the Yafos Caves. Swimming as fast as they could, the group arrived to see the entrance completely covered in rocks. "Oh no!"

"Hey guys." Sonic said from behind them.

"You made it!" Sonia cheered as she, Silver and Manic swam forward and gave him a hug.

"Check it out." He grinned as he pulled the comb out of his spines. Now they could get a good look at it. It was made of a stunning silver with a rose gold design engraved on it and a small lapis gem stone carved in the centre.

"Alright." Manic cheered as Sonic put in back in his quills.

"Oh no!" Sonia suddenly gasped.

"What is it?" Silver asked.

"That!" She exclaimed and pointed, everyone turned to see a group of manta sharks nearby.

"Quick, hide." Silver whispered. The group swam down to the ocean floor and hid behind a group of rocks as the sharks swam overhead.

"I saw those earlier at the festival." Sonic whispered.

"Those are Bernadette's manta sharks." Silver whispered back.

"Do you think they're looking for us?" Manic gasped.

"After what Sapphire told us, I would count on it." Sonia gulped.

"But Bernadette doesn't know anything about me." Sonic said.

"She knows you exist, and that's enough." Silver counter with a worried look at the manta sharks as they swam away. Once all of the sharks were gone, the group swam out of hiding.

"Alright, Sapphire said we had to find the Chaos Emeralds." Sonic recalled. "What are they?"

"Well," Silver scratched his head as he remembered. "They're supposedly magical gems you can never find."

"But if you do manage to collect them all in one place they will offer you you're greatest desire."

"So you wish on them?".

"Not exactly." Silver replied. "If you collect them, you can ask them for help and they will offer you something. But you can only use them once before they scatter again, so you're supposed to save your wish for when you really need a dream come true."

"Like getting a sneak peek at the Fall Fashions." Sonia grinned. "That would be a massive dream come true for me."

"In the stories, where do you find the Chaos Emeralds."

"That's the thing." Manic frowned. "The stories say that the only way to find Chaos Emeralds is 'under the horse and the bear', but I don't know what that means."

"Maybe Tail can help." Sonic said as he pressed call on his video watch. The screen showed Knuckles in a chair, Tails read a book and Knuckles sat on the bed, surrounded by the girls.

"Sonic!" Knuckles cried in relief as he shot up from the bed, annoying the girls. "You were right. Couch personally bumped me up to Masters Surfing Team!" He exclaimed happily. Sonic looked over at the other sea faes, who just gave him knowing looks.

"What were you doing by the bed?" He asked.

"The girls were trying to 'help' him figure out what to wear on the first day." Tails grinned.

"Shoot." Sonic cursed as a beep caught his attention. "Low battery. This is gonna have to be quick. Look for info about emeralds living under a horse and a bear." He explained quickly.

"That's weird, nothing." Tails said as he shook his head as the results came back.

"Then try this." He said as he remembered something from when they were kids. "Remember that class trip we went on, to see all of those rocks out in the ocean that looked like a dog or a rabbit, or even a teapot?"

"Yes!" Knuckles' face lit up like a Christmas Tree. "Or that one that looked like a kangaroo and badger playing Crazy 8s."

"That's beside the point." Tails rolled his eyes as he typed the words into his computer. "But I get it. You think the horse and bear and rock formations. Got it! Near the middle of the Pacific's Adenato Current, the horse and bear majestically face each other."...


	5. The Guide

Soon night descended on the ocean as the faint moonlight shimmered through the calming waves. Back in Atlantica, dozens of sea fae were screaming as manta sharks and the members of the royal guard came after them.

"But I've done nothing wrong!" One male sea fae protested to Queen Bernadette as he was pushed towards a large, purple whirlpool that she had recently made with her dark magic. "You can't do this!"

"Oh, can't I?" Bernadette questioned with a smirk. "Push him in."

 **"NO!"**  The man screamed as he was pushed into the whirlpool with several others who had been wrongly accused before the queen sent them to the dungeons. As the evil queen continued her rampage, Shadow looked towards the dark ocean waters, hoping Sonic and his friends would return soon...

* * *

A few miles away from the gorgeous city, the very person Bernadette was looking for was staring up at a huge tube of swirling water with his friends by his side.

"That's it." Sonia said. "I've also checked the rock formations. The horse and bear are to our left, but there's a boat of people over there so we can't get any closer than this."

"We've never been inside." Silver said as he watched the water swirl around. "It's very strong and even if you were stronger, you'd only get hit but all the debris gathered up inside."

"Great." The blue hedgehog groaned as he studied the fast moving water. "How am I supposed to get in there? And how do we even know if the clue to the emeralds is even up in there?" He asked before Pearl suddenly clicked and swam forward.

"Pearl!" Sonia gasped as the dolphin dove into the current. Everyone watched as the small bundle was spun around for a few moments before some debris suddenly hit her and shot her out of the current and into a large shell sticking up out of the sand. The purple dolphin looked down bashfully and a bit disappointed.

"Well, not that way." Manic smiled. "But good try though."

"Sonic, what are you doing now?" Silver asked as Sonic swam off from the group.

But Sonic didn't answer the ivory merhog. He just swam closer to the giant sea shell that Pearl had just bumped into. Its size greatly resembled a strong, heavy shield of some sorts. Remembering what Tails and Emma had said about his tail, he grabbed the shell and swam back towards the current.  Carefully securing the shell around as he floated next to the current, Sonic took a deep breath, and plunged in.

He yelped out slightly as he lost the grip on his shell shield.

Reaching out and gently batting his tail, Sonic slowly inched closer until he grabbed the giant shell and pulled it underneath him. He panicked slightly as he went round the current a few times, until he could control himself on the current. It really wasn't that hard with his tail strength, but the occasional bit a debris hitting the shell didn't throw him slightly off a few times.

Looking around carefully, Sonic saw that just outside of the current to were his friends watching anxiously.

Seeing him wave, they all grinned and swam towards his right. Whooping, Sonic followed until he reached a glow. Looking closer, he realised it was some kind of a large green orb floating in the middle of the tube. He cautiously swam over to it and saw that it was pulsing like a heartbeat. For some strange reason he had the sudden feeling to touch it.

He slowly reached forward and the second the tip of his finger touched the orb it exploded and shot him out of the tube!

"What was that!" Manic cried as they helped Sonic regained control and stop spinning.

But before Sonic could respond, Pearl then let out a whistle and pointed back towards the tunnel, causing Sonia, Manic, and Silver to gasp. Sonic turned back to the tube and gasped as well. Swimming towards them, was some kind of fairy creature, which stopped in front of Sonic. They all took defensive positions as it approached. When he came to a stop he smiled at them.

This little creature resembled a winged Chihuahua.

He had burgundy and white fur with green wings and a green orb on his white necklace. He was also incredibly tiny, only roughly a fourth of a typical individual.

"Who are you?" Sonic asked.

"I am the messenger of day, of life, and rebirth." He smiled. "Your looking for the Chaos Emeralds, right?" He asked Sonic and he nodded. "Then I'm your guide; I can sense the goodness in your hearts, you don't wish to use them for evil."

"Sapphire said we need the Celestial Comb, the Chaos Emeralds and Bernadette's protective necklace in order to defeat her and save the ocean." The blue hedgehog explained and the fairy creature nodded.

"Then follow me to Lalotai." He smiled and started swimming away.

"Wait, Lalotai! As in the Realm of the Kraken?!" Sonia cried.

"Yes, it is a dangerous place, but there are two Chaos Emeralds hidden there." He explained and Sonic turned to his friends.

"If you guys don't want to come with me than I understand, I don't want you guys to risk your lives for a stranger." He said and started to swim away, only to be covered in a cyan blue glow and pulling him back to the small group.

"Nah way bro, we're in this together." Manic smirked.

"I promised my Mom I'd help you save our home and our future." Silver nodded and they all turned to Sonia. She looked away from their gaze and she shifted nervously until Manic frowned and cleared his throat.

"Well, someone's got to keep you boys out of trouble." She smiled and they all shared a group hug...


	6. The Kraken

Poor little Sonia was now shaking in her tail fins as she and the boys descended deep down into the dark depths of the sea; towards Lalotai. Noticing his sister lagging behind, Manic quickly wrapped his arm around her to encouraged her forward. As they went deeper down into the darkness the only source of light was coming from their guide's necklace.

"So how are we gonna get these 'Chaos Emeralds' if their being guarded by a Kraken?" Sonic suddenly asked to brake the tension.

"There are only two emerald here, and as the legend goes you have to succeed in three quality to collect them." The guide explained and Sonic groaned.

"Great, so what do we need?"

"I know this one!" Silver suddenly exclaimed. "First you need courage, a sense of sacrifice and pure hope's flame."

"That's a big help." Manic rolled his eyes.

"Um, guys." Sonia whimpered and they all turned to her. "W-Where h-h-here." She mumbled as she lifted a shaky finger towards a cave that tunnelled deep into the foot of the undersea mountain they were facing.  
  
It was so big and so dark that even Sonic felt like it was going to swallow them whole.

"She is right, we're here." Their small guide said as he came to a stop. "You will all have to go on ahead alone, I can't go any further than this."

"Thanks anyway buddy, we'll be back before you know it." Sonic said with his signature grin before he swam into the cave, followed by Silver, Manic and a very scared Sonia.  
  
As they swam further away from the green light their guide provided at the entrance it got so dark that they couldn't see where they were going; a low rumbling sound somewhere in the darkness wasn't helping.

"What's that?!"

"It's just an echo."

"How do you know that Manic?!"

"Keep it down guys, if there is a Krak- **OWW!** "

"Oops, sorry your highness."

"Just watch where your going Silver."

"How we meant to do that dude? It's total blackout down here!"

**"AHHHH! HELP ME! SOMETHING'S GOT ME!"**

"Chill sis! It's just a piece of wood!"

"Is it just me or is that noise getting louder?"

"Dude, not helping!"

"That's it!" Sonic suddenly shouted. "Has anyone got a light?!"

"Oh!" Silver exclaimed as the whole cavern was illuminated by a cyan light shining from his hands.

Before anyone could dig into Silver about forgetting about his powers something on the floor of the cavern caught their eyes and when they saw what it was Sonic almost let out a small scream. Scattered all across the floor were thousands of ship wrecks from every era, going as far back as the Mesopotamian era to a few cruise ships Sonic knew were still being used today.

But what scared them to the bone was the few skeletons and remains of dead sailors.

"M-Maybe I should go keep the guide company." Manic gulped as he slowly backed up towards the passage.

The green teen suddenly screamed out in terror and pain when the end of a giant tentacle wrapped tightly around him and into the darkness. Before anyone could react three more tentacles suddenly shot out and grabbed Sonic and Silver in an inescapable grip but just missed Sonia.The pink sea fae let out a scream and swam for it. She quickly hid within one of the wrecks just as the sea monster revealed itself.

It was a giant squid like creature with very dark green scales all over its body with a dozen giant tentacles swaying around in the dark waters.

It had a giant mouth with millions crooked razor sharp teeth and six small crimson red eyes. As it floated above her, Sonia saw it had two large ear holes and a few of it's tentacles gently gliding across the wrecks. It was then that she realised that the beast had very poor eyesight and relied on its hearing to navigate the darkness and that all the noise they had been making is what drew the monster to them.

She looked around and saw her brother and their friends struggling as much as they could in the Kraken's tentacles.  
  
She watched in silent horror as Manic bit down on his captor, only to be flung into a nearby wall, knocking him out.

 **"MANIC!"**  Sonia cried out, only to scream in horror when she saw one of the beast's weapons coming down on her hiding place.  
  
The pink merhog quickly swam out of the ship just in time before it was crushed under the Kraken's might. She hid behind some rocks as the monster felt through the wreck, looking for her. As it was momentarily distracted, Sonic and Silver managed to wiggle free and swam down to see if Manic was alright. He was alright, save a fur cuts and bruises.

Once it felt that it's prey was gone the Kraken went into a frenzy.

It started smashing it's tentacles against the walls of the cavern, causing some chunks of rocks came tumbling down on the boys. They were soon buried under the rubble, but she could still see them moving around, trying to get out. She took some relief from that. Seeing her brother and her new friends in danger, Sonia grabbed two small rocks and started hitting them against each other, creating a sharp clicking noise, to get the Kraken's attention.

It worked and the monster charged at her; she swam up to the roof of the cavern as she kept hitting the small rocks and floated against the very top of the roof.

At the very last second she swam out of the way as the sea monster smashed against the roof and headed towards the boys. By now the boys had managed to dig themselves out of the rocks and had seen her incredible act of courage. But before they could congratulate her they saw that not only was the monster coming down on top of them but so was huge chunks of the roof!

The four teens made a dash for the exit as they dodged rocks and pieces of the wrecks.

As soon as they made it out the tunnel they all took cover in a trench as a torrent of rocks, dust and chucks of shipwrecks blasted out. As soon as the dust had settled, Sonic peeked over the edge of the trench and saw that the entrance was sealed closed with collapsed boulders. He felt a surge of frustration when he realised they had failed to get the two Chaos Emeralds the Kraken had and now had missed their chance.

He looked around and saw Silver tending to Sonia and Manic's injuries and he felt his anger fade.

The important thing was that they made it out alive, thanks to Sonia.

"Are you guys alright?" The guide asked, full of concern, as he fluttered down to them.

"We're alright." Sonic smiled weakly.

"Yeah, thanks to Sonia." Silver smiled as he moved to heal Sonic's wounds.

"Way ta go sis!" Manic cheered as he gave his sister a one armed hug, though she was still shaking with fear.

"Well done." The guide smiled as he made his way over to the girl.

"But we didn't get the Chaos Emeralds." Sonic sighed.

"Yes you did." He replied, much to everyone's confusion. "Remember the first part of the riddle? First you need courage, and that's what Sonia did; she conquered her fear and found the courage to save you and thus found the Chaos Emeralds." He said as he gently grabbed her hands.

In them were the two rocks she had used to lure the Kraken away.

"But those are just rocks!" Manic frowned.

"Never judge a fish by it's scales." The guide smiled as he placed his hands on the rocks and his necklace started to glowed.

Suddenly the rocks in Sonia's hand started to glow as well and the teens all watched in shock as the rocks started to change in colour and shape. Within a few seconds the rocks had changed into a red and purple gemstone.

 **"WHOA!"**  The teens all exclaimed.

"That was so cool!" Sonic grinned as Sonia carefully placed the emeralds into her seaweed satchel.

"Where to now?" Silver asked as the guide smiled.

"Our next stop is: The Depths of Despair."...


	7. The Depths Of Despair

The way to the Depths of Despair was strangely quiet. While their guide took the lead, Sonic looked at his friends and noticed that they all bore concerned expressions in their faces. The sapphire blue prince carefully adjusted the bag that Sonia had given him before clearing his throat; but before he could say anything, their guide suddenly came to a halt.

"Here was are, the Depths of Despair." He said.

Sonic looked down and shivered at the sight. The Depths of Despair was a large hole that dug deep down into the ocean floor with thick branches poking out from the endless blackness below.

"What's it like down there?" The blue teen asked.

"I don't know bro, no ones ever been down their." Manic said before turning to the prince with the most serious face the blue one had ever seen. "And even if they did, they never came back up to tell."

"Are you sure there are two Chaos Emeralds down there?" Sonia asked the guide, who just nodded.

"Well then what are we waiting for guys?" Sonic grinned before diving down into the depths, only to get about a few meters down before he was suddenly blasted out again by the current.

"How long have you had your tail?" Manic asked once the prince recovered.

"L-Less than a year." He slurred as the world continued spinning.

"I guess you're not yet strong enough to fight the current, let me and Silver take a shot at it." Sonia smiled as she and her brother eased him over to rock to lean against for support. "Can you stay with him until we get back?" She asked the green merhog.

"Of course, just hurry back." He replied and she swam up to the ivory teen.

"Ready?" He smiled reassuringly.

"As I'll ever be." She smiled back and they dove into the depths. As they swam deeper in the current became stronger and they even passed by a few large pieces of seaweed being carried up to the entrance.

"I don't want the big deal is, it ain't that bad." Silver smiled as he effortlessly swam down.

"I guess, but the currents a little strong." Sonia panted as she struggled to keep up. By now they were in a part of the depths where the walls were covered in long vine like plants like the ones they had seen floating up.

"It's not so bad, ya just gotta swim a little harder." He grinned, not noticing the female's struggle as he swam further ahead.

"I'm swimming as hard as I can! Silver wait, I can't keep up" She called out but he didn't seem to hear her.

As he got so far away that he was almost out of her sight Sonia pushed herself even harder to try and keep up with him but it was too much. Just when she decided to head back up to the entrance and wait for him at the top something suddenly wrapped around the end of her tail. Sonia looked down and gasped when she saw one of the vines gripping it tightly before yanking her down with painful force.

"OW! Cut it out!" She glared as it pulled her down and as she was almost touching the wall more vines closed around her like a flower and trapped her inside...

* * *

Silver was panting slightly as he made his way down deeper in the depths. His muscles were starting to hurt as he fought against the powerful current. He could see and feel some of the vines whipping out at him, but he just choked it up to the current causing them to do that. He smiled slightly as he could see a faint light at the bottom, not far away from him.

"Almost there." He mumbled to himself.

Suddenly he heard Sonia cry out and quickly turned around to see what was going on and to make sure she was safe. The ivory merhog panicked when he saw Sonia being dragged and imprisoned by the deadly vines. He tried to get to her but suddenly the vines started whipping him back down, not wanting him to escape. He looked back up at her, who's blue eyes met his gold ones.

"Just go get the emeralds! I'll find a way out!" She called out.

Silver didn't want to leave her behind and was about to argue when he saw Sonic and Manic making their way down towards her, arms linked together to support each other, and they each held sharp pieces of glass to cut the vines that held the pink merhog. As Manic used his knife to hack away the vines, Sonic pulled Sonia out of the villainous vines.

Once he was certain they would get out of the depths alright, Silver made his way down again, only to be grabbed by one of the nearby vines.

On instinct, he used his powers to grab the vine and snap it. Once he was free he pushed himself even harder to make it down to the light. By now he had used up most of his energy fight the current and dodging the vines. Just when his muscles were about to give out, Silver gasped when all the resistance he had been fighting suddenly vanished and he crashed into the cool, sandy ground.

It took a few moments for the strength in his exhausted muscles to return and he slowly sat up to see where he was.

It was then that he realised that he had finally made it to the bottom of the depths. It was a rounded chamber with smooth rock for walls and cold sandy on the floor, there was a large hole in the roof where he had fallen from and right in the centre of the chamber was a large clam.

"Who's there?!" A weak, old voice croaked from the shadows, causing Silver to jump.

"M-My name's Silver, I need to get tha Chaos Emeralds." He replied as he looked around and froze when he saw to piercing eyes staring at him.

"Come closer boy, so I can see you." The eyes frowned with a firmer voice and he did as he was told.

When he was about five feet away, the figure then swam out into the light, allowing him to see them. He could see now that it was a frail, old fox sea fae who was so skinny that her skin was hugging her skeleton and all she wore were old rags.

"Well, well, well." She smiled with rotting teeth as she swam around him. "A young sea fae at the bottom of the Depths of Despair, you must be very brave or very desperate."

"Guess I'm both." He shuddered. "I don't me to be rude but I need to get the Chaos Emeralds, do you know where they are?"

She smiled before swimming over to the giant clam and gently tapping the top of it. It slowly opened and the chamber was suddenly flooded with a bright yellow and indigo light as Silver saw the two Chaos Emeralds settled inside. He reached forward, only to have the clam suddenly snap shut, almost taking his fingers off.

"Not so fast boy." The old sea fae chuckled as she sat on top of the clam. "These two gems are priceless and very precious to me, you can't just take them without first giving me something in return."

"But I don't have anything that valuable!"

"Oh no boy, you misunderstand." She replied. "What I need is something that is precious to you, something you can't live without, something given to you out of love and trust; you can either give me that or take a chance and try and make your way back through those vines, it's your choice."

Silver thought for a second before sighing and reached into his quills. The old fox watched carefully as he pulled out an old Atlantian war medal.

"This medal is the only thing that I have left of my father." He explained as he felt tears built up in his eyes when he noticed the fox's confused stare. "H-He died when I was little but this was his most cherished item; I don't want to give it up but I know it's for a good cause and he'd be proud of me." He smiled weakly as he handed her the medal.

"Well done." She whispered and the calm opened once again...

* * *

Sonia, Manic and Sonic shifted anxiously as they waited by the entrance of the depths, but they couldn't see any sign of Silver and they were beginning to get worried. Sonia wanted to go down after him but not only did the boys not let her, but her poor tail was still sore after they had pulled her free from the tight vines.

"Alright, if he's not back in ten seconds, we're going down." Sonic glared and they nodded in agreement.

Suddenly a bright yellow and indigo light erupted from the darkness, momentarily blinding the three friends, as Silver shot out of the depths, clutching the yellow and dark blue Chaos Emeralds close to his chest. The others noticed that he was too weak and was slowly sinking back down to the depths, so they quickly grabbed him and eased him over the a rock.

"Are you OK?" Sonia asked as they put the two emeralds away.

"Yeah... just need to rest for a minute." Silver mumbled as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Get some rest buddy." Sonic smiled before turning back to their guide. "So, where to now?"

"Now, we move to the frozen tundra."...


	8. Greed

Amy sighed as she stood on the deck of her house, staring out to the ocean. It had been a while since they had heard anything from Sonic and she and the others were getting worried for their blue friend. Knuckles and Sally had to go home but made sure the pink hedgehog and the kitsune would tell them if Sonic contacted them again. A cold breeze suddenly blew in Amy's face and she quickly went back inside.

She saw Tails sat on her couch, looking something up on her laptop.

"Are you OK?" She asked the boy as she sat next to him.

"I was just reading the latest sea reports."

"What are they about?"

"They measure things like the local fish population and how healthy the coral reefs are as well as how much pollution in the water." He explained with a worried expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, according to this, the fish population as well as the welfare of the ocean has dropped greatly just this week!" He exclaimed.

"But why? I knew that it was getting worse but I didn't think it would drop that quick!"

"With what Sonic told us about this 'merillia' stuff and how it keeps the ocean alive, if he fails to do something, it could have a disastrous effect on the whole planet!"...

* * *

Sonic and his friends shivered as they swam through the freezing cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. All around them was nothing but ice and cold. Silver told them to keep moving so that they muscles wouldn't cramp and they wouldn't freeze to death. The Guide suddenly came to a stop right in front of a giant wall of ice and snow. As they looked at it in confusion, Silver noticed something engraved into the ice, hidden under the snow.  
  
He gently wiped the snow away and saw that it was a message written in ancient Atlantian carved into the wall.

" _Take whatever you need, but never from greed._ " The ivory merhog read out loud.

Suddenly a tunnel with smooth walls of ice formed into the wall and led into the ice, illuminated by glowing blue symbols on the walls. The group shared a look before swimming inside the icy tunnel. When they exited the tunnel they found themselves in a large, dark ice cavern. Silver quickly used his power to light up the area, but there were too many passages.

"Which way do we go?" Sonia asked fearfully.

"How about there?" Manic suggested and pointed down a darker passage.

The others looked to where he was pointing and saw that there was a faint shimmering light at the far end of it. Sonic gave him his signature grin and thumbs up as they swam towards the light. As they swam, Sonic couldn't help but shivering. This water was freezing! He also noticed the light starting to fade.

"H-Hey Silv... c-could you, uh...give s-some lights-s?" He asked through chattering teeth as he looked over to the ivory merhog.

But he gasped when he saw his friend slowly sinking to the icy floor. He dashed towards him, followed by the others, and held him up.

"A-Are you O-OK S-Silver?" Sonia asked as he struggled to stay awake.

"I-I-I don't know, I'm s-so cold." He whimpered.

"I'll look after h-him, you guys-s go on." She said.

Sonic and Manic gave them a look before nodding. Sonia smiled at them before lifted him up and swam towards the entrance. Sonic and Manic swam towards the light, which was much harder to see without Silver's powers. Sonic frowned in confusion when his muscles started to tremor. He felt himself slowly down in the water. Manic slowed down when he could no longer hear Sonic's swimming beside him.

He turned to look over his shoulder and gasped when he saw what was happening.

He went to swim to his friend but Sonic shook his head.

"G-Go..." He mumbled, barely able to keep his eyes open.

Manic wanted to go after the blue hybrid but he knew he was right. If he got the Chaos Emeralds then maybe everything would be alright. Give his friend one last look, he swam for the light. He could feel the cold on his body but unlike Sonic and Silver, who had spent all their lives in tropical waters, he and Sonia had been all over the world so their bodies were more adapted to climate change.

When he reached it, he felt like he'd died and gone to heaven!

The entire cave was full to the brim with dozens of shining, different coloured gemstones. It was a good thing Sonia wasn't here, he doubt she'd be able to handle all of these gorgeous jewels; heck, even he was struggling to control himself. There was just one problem, they all looked exactly like the Chaos Emeralds. He had no idea which ones were the real Chaos Emeralds.

He knew that he had to be very, very careful; the warning on the entrance kept repeating around in his freezing brain.

Take whatever you need, but never from greed. One wrong move could spell disaster, not just for him but for his friends as well, but if he wasn't fast enough, Sonic could freeze to death. He looked around the cave and wanted to scream in frustration, this is one of those times he could really used Sonia's 'woman intuition' she keeps bragging about.

He continued to look around and stopped when he saw something.

A light blue and green gems placed among the mountains. What made these gems stand out was that these were much more duller compared to the others, even duller than the other Chaos Emeralds. A part of him wanted to keep searching, but he knew he didn't have time, he had to have hope. Taking a deep breath, Manic grabbed hold of the two gems.

After a few moments, light suddenly flooded the cave, blinding the green merhog.

When he opened his eyes again he was shocked to find the mountains of jewels had turned into ordinary rocks and the two Chaos Emeralds in his hands were shining brightly and were quickly warming him up. He grinned as he swam back to Sonic. As the green and light blue light filled the cavern, Sonic slowly woke up as his body started to warm up.

He looked up and Manic and smiled...

* * *

"You did it!" Sonia cheered as her brother and Sonic swam out the ice caverns. She quickly hugged them as Silver took the emeralds from the green merhog.

"I did." Manic smirked. Sonic just rolled his eyes before turning to the guide.

"So where's the next Chaos Emerald?"

"It is with your heart's deepest desire, it is only when you realise what that truly is then the light will be revealed to you." The guide replied as he started to fade away. "Call for me when you need help."

"Wait!" Sonic cried but it was too late, the guide was gone.

"So... what now?" Silver asked.

"Now all we have to do is get Bernadette's protective necklace." Manic reminded them. "Piece of crab cake."

"How are we going to do that? We're going to need to get really close her." Sonia said.

"You can't get close to her unless you're one of her guards and we know that Shadow won't do it." Manic glared.

"Or you're called upon to prove your loyalty and devotion to her." Silver added.

"I think I have an idea." Sonic suddenly said.

"What is it?" The ivory merhog asked.

"When's the next Queen Festival?" He grinned.

"This evening." Manic replied. "In a few hours."

"Good." He nodded. "Now, I only have one other question. Can you dance?"...


	9. Dance Time!

A few hours later, a familiar sound of a horn rang threw all of Atlantica. With that cue Sonic, Silver, Manic and Sonia swam to their places as the Queen Festival started. Shadow gave them a look before also taking his place. As the carriage came into town, it was immediately noted that there were a lot more manta shark and sea fae guards.

"Your highness, look this way." A reporter called as he elbowed threw the guards. "How about a big smile for the camera?" He smiled as he snapped a few pictures, only to stop and make an escape when the queen glared.  
  
After the reporter was out of the way, Bernadette stood from her carriage.

"Atlantica, do you adore me?" She called out. There was cheering, but apparently it wasn't enough for Bernadette.

"I said, do you adore me?" She called out louder. The cheering increased in volume, and she looked calm.

"Well." She had before her expression suddenly changed to one of anger, "I don't believe you!"

Everyone gasped at the proclamation and frantically tried to think of what had happened to invoke their ruler's wrath?

"If you truly adored me, one of you would give me information about Aleena's son!" She snarled. This announcement brought gasps from everyone, even the guards, minus Shadow.

"A half-Mobian spawn of the wicked queen who abandoned us all!" She added as she scanned the crowd

"A hybrid?" One of the male sea fae near the group of merteens shuddered. "He sounds like a monster."

"Hey! He could be really nice." Manic shot back, but gulped when he saw a few people looking at him. "We really don't know." He shrugged and they all turned back to the queen

"Now, who can lead me to him? Swim forward." Bernadette ordered, but no one moved. No one knew where the half Mobian son of the previous queen was.

"Fine then." Their current queen growled. "Guards, get me an answer. NOW!" She shouted and people began screaming as the mantas and guards singled out people from the crowd.

"Wait!" A voice suddenly shouted and Bernadette turned to see the blue sea fae known as Sonic swim out of the crowd.

"Do you information about Aleena's son?" She asked the small male.

"No." He admitted. "But, I do have something for you, a gift to prove our devotion." He smiled and gestured behind him. Silver, Manic and Sonia swam up behind him. "I think you're really going to like it."

"I'd better." Bernadette sneered as her eyes glittered. "Otherwise, you know what will happen if I don't." She smirked as the tips of her fingers shimmered with magic. Gulping heavily, Sonic took a deep breath.

"Hit it!" He called and a started up a song with a hopping beat. Sonic and Sonia sang while Silver and Manic provided background dancing.

**" _Calling all sea fae,  
_** **_Now's your chance  
_ ** **_Give it up for your Queen  
_ ** ****_With a brand new dance._

**_She razzles, she dazzles,  
_** ** _She rules the sea.  
_** ** _So let's rock the reef  
_** **** _For her majesty._ "

Silver and Manic joined Sonic and Sonia singing as Bernadette started to smile. As the crowed started to bounce along, no one noticed Sonic duck down and away.

 __ **"Pop up, lean in**  
Side to side  
Lay back, hang ten,  
Go for a ride

 __ **Catch that curl,**  
Get into the groove.  
Do the mahi-mahi  
Make your tail fin move."

Even Shadow had a faint smile on his face and a swish in his tail as the song carried on, but either no one noticed or didn't have the guts to bring it up to the ebony sea fae.

**_She's the Queen of the Waves!_ **

****_Check it out  
_ _She's spinnin'  
_ _That pool around._

**_Queen of the Waves!_ **

****_No one's gonna  
_ _Take away her crown,  
_ _Surf's up, bow down!_

**_She's the Queen of the Waves!_ **

Sonia and the boys quickly got the crowd going, even some of the guards started to groove a little.

****_Her smile, her style,  
_ _You just gotta stare,  
_ _The envy of Sea Fae_ _everywhere._

****_A beauty, a cutie,  
_ _And so in the know,  
_ _Her charms pull you in  
_ _Like undertow_.

Silver was starting to feel sick to his stomach singing false praises to the false queen; but he wasn't willing to do it for Sonic so the prince could get the necklace.

**_Pop up, lean in  
_ _Side to side._ **

**_Lay back, hang ten,  
_ _Go for a ride._ **

**_Catch that curl,  
_ _Get into the groove._ **

**_Do the mahi-mahi,  
_ _Make your tail fin move_.**

Sonia and Manic also didn't like the idea of being so close to the crazy queen, but they knew what was at stake.

_**She's the Queen of the Waves!** _

_**Check it out  
** _ _**She's spinnin'  
** _ __**She flips around.**

_**Queen of the Waves!** _

_**No one's gonna  
** _ _**Take away her crown.  
** _ __**Surf's up, bow down!"**

Suddenly Sonic shot up and ripped the queen's necklace from her neck. Everyone looked up to see a male sea fae in shock. He floated there in fear as he waited for something to happen, but it was just an awkward moment.

"What do you want?" Bernadette demanded with a frightening calmness as she slowly floated over to the teen; but when he didn't answer, she clicked her fingers and her guards rushed towards his friends.

"I am the one you are looking for." Sonic said he stood his ground before the queen as her men backed off. "I am the half Mobian!"

"You?" She snorted before she waved her hand and the mantas surrounded Sonic. "So nice of you to visit, my long lost nephew; too bad you can't stay for very long." She laughed.

Sonic's eyes narrowed. He had a feeling that this would end badly, but he didn't know what else to do and he couldn't let his friends suffer for what he was supposed to do.

"Behold." Bernadette cried and started to swim in tight circle, her magic flashing like crazy, until a large and powerful whirlpoo formed.

"Oh boy." Manic muttered.

"Push him in." The evil queen snapped to the manta sharks. "He gets a one way trip to the bottom of the deepest trench in the ocean."   
  
She laughed as the mantas started to push against him. Sonic pushed back, but it did no go. They had rough skin, and were a lot stronger than he was.

 **"AH!"**  The blue teen cried out as the whirlpool sucked him in.

"Sonic!" His friends cried out...


	10. True Power

Inside the dangerous swirl that was the whirlpool, Sonic felt a massive drain of strength. After a few more whirls and cries, Sonic knew he needed help to get out of here. But he couldn't endanger any of his friends, they would no doubt get stuck in the powerful whirlpool. So, with only one other idea in mind, he gave it a try.

"Guide!" He called out as loud as he could. "Guide, I need you!"

After a few seconds of nothing, Sonic felt ready to give up as his tail began to lose strength. But a sudden flash of green that changed the whole inside of the whirlpool, slowing it to a near halt as the Guide reappeared.

"You called?" The fairy creature asked.

"Yes." The blue hybrid cried as he breathed in relief. "Yes, I need help. Please."

"I will offer you your greatest desire." The smaller male told him as necklace started to glow brightly. "I'll send you back home to Malibu, and your sae fae half will go away; you'll be just a normal teenager, and it will be as if none of this ever happened."

"You can do that?" Sonic gasped as he felt his heart leap.

"It is your greatest desire, if you wish it, it's yours." He confirmed. Home, with his uncle and friends, no powers and no fear of getting caught and dissected on some lab table or locked in an aquarium; but he paused

"But, all of this trouble will still be happening in Atlantica? I just won't be part of it?"

"But you would have your dream come true." The Guide pointed out.

"Yeah, but everyone else would pay for it."

"Will you accept the wish?" He asked.

"No." Sonic said firmly after thinking a few moments. The thought of of his new friends, as well as countless others, being trapped in one of Bernadette's dungeons sent shivers down his spine.

"Whatever I am, I am Sonic, half sea fae prince of Atlantic, and it is my duty to protect my subjects!" He stated as he held his head up proud.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of pure white blinded him and lit up the whirlpool. When his eyes adjusted to the light, Sonic gasped when he saw the final Chaos Emerald floating a few feet in front of him. He quickly looked around and saw that the guide had suddenly vanished when the last emerald had finally appeared. Just as he reached for the emerald, the other six in his bag suddenly sprung out and all seven started circling him.  
  
The glow increased in color, forcing Sonic to close his eyes again.

After the glow faded, he was still in the whirlpool, except he wasn't stuck to the side. Looking around, he tried to figure out what happened. He looked at his arms and gasped when he saw that his fur was a different colour! His blue fur and scales had changed into a golden colour while his black marks were glowing white! His tail fins where still the same colour yet his emerald green eyes had changed to red.

After getting over the initial shock, Sonic began to swim and realised that this new form was much more stronger then before, allowing him to battle the whirlpool.

He grinned before looking to the top of the whirlpool...

* * *

"Once again, I've rescued you, my subjects; Aleena's son will never bother us again!" Bernadette called out to the crowd.  
  
As everyone murmured to the one next to them, the queen turned to the three teens who had helped Sonic. They were currently being restrained by her guards.

"You all know the penalty for treason." She sneered as her hand glowed with magic.  
  
A sudden rumble in the whirlpool caused Bernadette and everyone else to turn around. With a loud cry, Sonic burst out the top of the swirling whirlpool. As he swam around, everyone gasped.

"Whoa!" Manic cried out with joy. Even Shadow was shocked by the new transformation

"What?! That's impossible!" Bernadette gasped. How did he escape the whirlpool?! Sonic however, smirked and swam so that he was in front of his friends, protecting them from his aunt's glare.

"But how?" Silver asked, still stunned.

"Don't just stand there gawking you fools, get him!" The evil queen snarled as the mantas, along with very reluctant guards, closed in on the hybrid teenager.

"Wait!" He shouted before they reached him. "You don't have to take orders from Bernadette, she isn't the real heir to Atlantica's throne. I am and I can prove it; I have the Celestial Comb!" He called and everyone gasped as he pulled the lost item out of his quills, causing it to flash as its rightful owner raised it up for everyone to see.

"Never mind the comb!" Bernadette snapped at the crowd. "He's half Mobian; he won't be able to spin merillia, if you want the sea to have a chance to survive, you need me!"

As the crowd murmured amongst themselves, Sonic thought about what she had said. True he didn't know how to spin merillia, but his mother could and she was still out there somewhere. As he looked down at Bernadette's protective necklace, still in his hand, a thought suddenly came to him as he turned to the crowd.

"You don't need Bernadette to spin merillia; look!" He exclaimed and threw down the necklace, making it smash against the rocks.  
  
As merillia swirled out, Bernadette gasped in distress as a picture of her sister appeared. The crowd however, gasped in shock at seeing their previous ruler.

"Yes; that is my mother, Queen Aleena, right now, spinning merillia." He growled and turned back to his aunt, when he froze. "Spinning merillia?" He muttered before swimming up to her. "You could have destroyed my mother, but you didn't; you needed her to spin merillia 'cause you can't."

The crowd whispered to each other as the queen looked around nervously.

"That's what makes you so angry and jealous, isn't it?" He asked. "You're the only one in the royal family who can't spin merillia. You're different, and you hate it."

"That's ridiculous." She brushed it off. "Mantas, Shadow, someone, seize him!" She snarled. Everyone glanced at each other, but no one moved to grab the prince.

"You've been pretending my Mom's merillia is yours." He glared before turning back to the crowd. "But Aleena isn't happy shut away, that's why her merillia is too weak to keep the ocean healthy."

"This boy lies!" She roared.

"If you let my mother go, I know we can work together." Sonic said firmly, but with kindness in his eyes. "Once she understands how horrible you felt, she'll forgive you. I know she will. And I know what it's like to feel different. I can expla-"

"NO!" Bernadette roared as she lunged at Sonic, forcing him to dodge and swim around the city as fast as he could.  
  
As the chase ensued, Sonic dodged her attacks, causing her to smash into a few pots and buildings.

"You can't out swim me." She snarled as she reached for her nephew again.  
  
Looking around frantically for an escape, Sonic saw the whirlpool. He escaped it once; maybe he could do it again. Diving down, Sonic went head first into the spinning magic, followed by Bernadette. The crowd gasped and held their breath. A few seconds later, Sonic shot out of the top, and turned back to look. Bernadette suddenly lunged out, reaching for the prince…

Only to grab nothing.

"What?" She looked down, and gasped as she was pulled back into her own creation. "No! I am your queen! I am your ruler! I'm-!"

"So last season!" Sonia cheered.  
  
Bernadette cried out as the crown fell from her head and floated down to the dark sea floor. The whirlpool began to move out of the city, and Sonic's friends swam up to the prince's side. As he took deep breaths, the golden glow faded away, to reveal his beautiful cobalt blue once more.

"Where is it going?" He asked as Bernadette's screams echoed out of the trap, growing more distant the further it got.

"To the bottom of the deepest trench in the ocean." Shadow responded coldly.

"I don't deserve this!" Bernadette gave a final cry as the whirlpool disappeared from view and the crowd erupted in cheers.

"All hail King Sonic! All hail King Sonic!" They chanted.

"No, no, please!" Sonic exclaimed, cutting them off. "I'm not your ruler, Aleena is, and we have to find her."

"I know where she is." Shadow stated as he glanced towards the palace...

* * *

A few minutes later, Sonic was nervously swimming down a tunnel that led to the deepest, darkest dungeon in the whole palace. Shadow silently led the way to a metal grate that resembled coral, and opened it. Sonic swallowed the heavy lump in his throat as he swam inside and saw his mother with her back towards them. Her hands were moving side to side as more glowing blue tendrils floated past and then down into a basket as they were collected.

"Mom?" he asked as he swam closer.

"Sonic?" Aleena gasped as she turned around, and her face broke into a wide teary smile as she swam forward to greet her long-lost son with a bone crushing hug. "Oh, my baby; you've grown a tail!"

"I know, it's pretty amazing." He smiled as he swished his fins a little. Some chirping caught their attention as Pearl swam into the room with the crown on her nose.

"This ocean belongs to you again." Sonic smiled as he took the crown and gently placed it on his mother's head.  
  
Aleena smiled at her son and turned back to her work. Concentrating, powerful tendrils of merillia floated past and out into the city, making the ocean vibrant and healthy again.

"Tell me, how did it happen?" She asked as she turned to her son again,

"I'll tell you everything, I promise." He vowed. "But first, we need to clean out Bernadette's dungeons."...

* * *

A few hours later, a large and cheering crowd was gathered in the city after all of the people had been freed from the dungeons. On a platform in front of everyone, Queen Aleena, now wearing the crown, stood with her son. With them were the guards, Shadow, Sapphire and everyone who had helped Sonic in his quest. As Aleena placed a crown on her son's head, louder cheers were heard from the crowd, much louder than at any Queen Festival.

"Members of the Royal Court, and it perfectly matched my eyes." Sonia smiled happily as she touched the new blue shell necklace with purple highlights she wore before turning to her brother. "Your's matches your tail!"

"I know." Manic grinned as he looked down at his own necklace.

"Who cares?" Shadow glared at the siblings.

"Shut it emo." Manic snapped.

"In your dreams." The ebony sea fae snapped back.

"Thank you your majesty." Silver bowed; his own necklace the same color as the cyan circles on his hands. The others followed suit.

"I should be thanking you." Aleena replied. "All of you helped my son and helped save our home."

"It's great to see the two of you together." Sapphire smiled.

"You could stay with us forever." Sliver grinned at the prince, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"You could even work in the boutique with us." Sonia gushed. "Not that you would need to, being a prince and all, but it would be so much fun."

"It would." Sonic said slowly.

"But there are things you would miss." Aleena finished gently.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I mean, I love it here and everyone I've met. It's beyond amazing. But I want see Malibu again, I want to see all my friends and Sally, I don't want to stay down here forever."

"Sonic." Aleena smiled and the teen turned to her. "My own heart, you will always be a Mobian, just like how you will always be a sea fae. You are both, in equal parts."

"I guess." He said with a small smile. "But it was hard enough to try and fit in when I first got my powers, and that was in a world I'd already known! If I stayed here I'd be a misfit, a freak." He sighed sadly.

"All you have to be is yourself." Her mother said as she pulled him into a hug as the crowd cheered. "I promise, you're not a misfit in either world. Everything in your history lives and breathes in you. You are unique. You are special. And that's what makes you strong."

"I knew this would happen." Sapphire smirked at her son. Silver didn't say anything as he and his own mother shared a hug. Even Manic and Sonia were seizing the moment. Shadow just grunted at the displays of affection.

"Would it be bad if I leave now?" Sonic asked warily. "I just know Uncle Chuck's worried sick."

"Come back soon and visit." She smiled.

"I promise." He nodded as he swam off. "Good bye everyone!"...


	11. Family

As he happily swam through the ocean, Sonic noticed the great difference in the ocean waters. The atmosphere seemed to be lighter and lively and he saw colour and life returning to the corals. An hour later, the blue hedgehog was at the beachfront that was in front of his house. As he crawled out of the water, he saw Chuck working on a new machine.

The blue teen smiled as he heated the water off his body and walked over to the older hedgehog

"Unc." Sonic said, making his guardian look up.

"Sonny?" Chuck questioned, and then smiled as the two embraced. "Oh, lad. I was scared you weren't coming back."

"I'll always come back Uncle Chuck." Sonic smiled.

"So, you're okay? You promise you're okay?"

Sonic just laughed and hugged his father-figure...

* * *

The next day Sonic, Sally, Amy and Tails were all on the crowded beach, cheering as Knuckles battled against Scourge on one of the giant waves that kept rolling in.

When they found out Sonic was back, his friends wanted to know everything that had happened but the teen dismissed their pleading and said he'd tell them after he's managed to get his head around it himself.

The entire crowd suddenly cheered and laughed was Scourge tried to slam into the echidna, only for the larger male to move out the way and cause the green hedgehog to fall face first into the water.

Knuckles laughed as he sat down on his board and began to swim back to the beach.

 _ **"And the winner is: Knuckles**_ ** _Hazine_** _ **!"**_...

* * *

Later that day, Sonic took his uncle and friends out to the rocks where they had met Silver for the first time. It was there where he introduced them to his mother and to his new friends.  
  
He was worried that they might not get along but he was proven wrong.  
  
Something he was very glad for. The girls seemed to hit it off almost instantly, they were constantly talking about fashion and boys from both worlds. Manic and Knuckles seemed to enjoy talking about the items the green sea fae had stuffed in his fanny pack.  
  
Silver and Tails were also asking each other lots of questions about each other's worlds.

Shadow was only there because he wanted to make sure the royal family was safe, as it was his job. But Sonic didn't mind because they were together, as a family. Just how it should be.

How he'd make sure it always will be...

##  _** THE END ** _


End file.
